Gold and Silver

So I got gold in the gi after 2 matches and silver in the no gi after 3 matches. In summary it was a little ridiculous but fun. Most people who grapple will understand the sillyness when I say that I won 3 matches by more than 30 points, but got choked out in 30 seconds at the end. Typical scores are more like soccer - 2 to 5 or something. Anyways, it was a lot of fun. Most of the guys from our club competed so there was always one of our guys to watch when I wasn't working.



The first gi match was basically a bunch of circles - I would try to get a submission, but the guy would put me back into guard. I'd have to escape and try again. This happened 4 or 5 times. Final score 44 to 0. Nuts. I almost got a kimura (above) but the guys shoulder was crazy-flexible. He managed to pull guard while I had his shoulder cranked. It was crazy.

The second gi match was pretty good too. Almost the same story - it was 30something to 3 and I was sitting on an arm bar for the last 30 seconds. I couldn't break his grip.

In the no-gi division, they had to lower the weight cutoff to get enough guys. I had a few smaller guys. It felt a little unfair in the first two matches...... The third held an awesome surprise.



This guy was pretty good. Very quick and good defense. Nowhere near the huge point spread. I managed to get to his back and sink a rear-naked choke to get the submission.

This match was fun. He was really light - 144, and only had 1 year of experience. I felt a little bad about pushing hard..... We both just had some fun and tried to play a good game.

The no-gi finals was a total surprise. It was my favorite match. It was against one of the no-gi specialist's students. He had 2 inches on me. I don't actually have a good sense of his skill level, but the first time I went to pass the guard, I left myself open and his triangle-choke came quicker than any I've felt before. It was a pure-blood-choke, sunk deep, tight, and quick. I was very impressed. I probably could have tried an all-strength defense and bought myself 10 seconds to try something, but it was damn tight and the guy deserved the win. I don't know if I could have escaped anywdays. I tapped out. Inspiring.